Sydney's tandoori chicken, fired the right way.
A real clay tandoor. Charcoal at 400°C. Chicken marinated overnight in hung yoghurt, mustard oil and Punjabi spices. Six tandoori chicken kebabs on the menu — and a decade of getting the char right.
Bhatti Da Murg
Punjab, IndiaThe King of the Kebabs. Bone-in chicken marinated overnight in hung yoghurt, mustard oil, ginger, garlic and Punjabi masala. Fired until the skin chars and the meat falls clean off the bone.
Punjabi by Nature
Amritsar, IndiaThe classic tandoori tikka — boneless thigh in yoghurt and mustard-oil marinade with aromatic Punjabi spice. Bright, smoky, unmistakably tandoor.
Murg Kesari Tikka
Mughal kitchensSaffron-stained boneless chicken, delicately spiced. Subtler than Punjabi tikka — built for the saffron, not against it.
Myrah Malai Tikka
House specialTender fillets in cream, hung yoghurt, cashew and a whisper of cheese. White, soft, barely-spiced — the tandoor cousin you eat slowly.
Abeer-e-Surkh
Chef's ownHot. The chef's red marinade — not for the faint-hearted. Heat, smoke and a long finish.
Hariyali Chooza
North IndiaBoneless chicken in coriander, mint chutney and English spinach. Green, herbaceous, slow-roasted.
Clay, charcoal, and time.
Most tandoori chicken in Sydney is baked in a gas oven, painted red and called tandoori. Ours is fired in a real clay tandoor — the same vertical pit you'd find in a Punjabi village kitchen — heated with charcoal until the walls glow. Chicken is skewered raw and dropped in vertically. Fat drips onto the coals; the smoke rises back through the meat. That smoke is the dish.
Marinades are overnight, twice. First a salt-and-acid cure with lemon and ginger-garlic. Then a yoghurt marinade with mustard oil, Kashmiri chilli, and a masala we pound the morning of service. No food colouring. The red is paprika and the char is from the fire.
That's why the Hills drives to Bella Vista for it.
Book a table or order in.
Dine in at Sky City Bella Vista, or order tandoori chicken for delivery across Sydney's Hills District.